Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, September 22, 2021—Before the new school year begins in Iran, thousands of teachers and educators in Iran held protest rallies against the regime in several cities.
Iranian teachers in the provinces of Tehran, East Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, Isfahan, Fars, Alborz, Kermanshah, Qom, Lorestan, Hormozgan, Ardabil, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad, Ilam, and Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari held a large and unprecedented gathering.
The protesting teachers were chanting:
- Teacher! Raise your voice and demand your rights!
- Where is the state TV, nobody listens to us.
- The teachers also carried large placards expressing some of their demands, including basic living needs. Some of these placards read:
- "Raise the teachers' salaries to at least meet the poverty line!"
- "The poverty line is 120 million rials (about $437 per month) while our salary is 30 million rials (about $110 per month)."
September 21 – Tehran, #Iran
Teachers and educators rallying and seeking answers from officials to their long-raised demands.#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/GDDdoWvp5e— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 21, 2021
The protesting teachers are also demanding regime authorities implement what is known as the "80 percent ranking plan” regarding the teachers’ salaries.
"The government and parliament are obliged to approve this initiative. If this initiative is approved and implemented, the legal basis for teachers’ wage will be at least 80 percent of that of faculty members, because teachers and members of faculty boards should be receiving equal salaries," the Iranian Teachers Coordination Council said in its statement marking the beginning of the new school year.
That is why the protesting teachers were seen chanting on Saturday:
"If 80 percent remain unresolved – classrooms will be closed."
September 21 – #Iran
Teachers and educators rallying and seeking answers from officials to their long-raised demands.
Mashhad – Kermanshah – Izeh – Abadan#IranProtests #اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/DlOJe4nfkz— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 21, 2021
The Iranian regime is literally stealing from the country’s teachers by maintaining their salaries at a low level. Many teachers have committed suicide in recent years due to poverty and not being able to provide for their basic needs. A statement from the Iranian Teachers Coordination Council cited various such accounts of teachers taking their lives.
The statement warned of the consequences of teachers enduring poor living conditions, adding that a teacher from the city of Neishabour in northeast Iran had committed suicide with a rice pill. "Last week, a teacher in Fars province committed suicide because he did not have 50 million rials (about $180) in his bank account to become eligible for a loan," the statement reads in part.
The poverty line is 120 million rials (about $437 per month). Yet this teacher does not even have 50 million rials to receive a loan and provide for his daily life living!
Simultaneously green report card teachers, consisting of those teachers who have passed the Education Ministry’s employment test, held the sixteenth consecutive day of their rally in front of the Education Ministry in Tehran, protesting the regime’s refusal to employ them. Some of the teachers had traveled to the capital from other cities to make their voices heard. These protests continue to this day.
On Tuesday, “green report card teachers,” #Iran|ian teachers who have passed official employment test, held the 18th consecutive day of their rally in front of the Education Ministry in Tehran, protesting the regime’s refusal to employ them.#IranProtestspic.twitter.com/S7KLcnGBwt
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 21, 2021
On Sunday, “green report card teachers,” Iranian teachers who have passed the education ministry’s employment test, held the sixteenth consecutive day of their rally in front of the education ministry in Tehran, protesting the regime’s refusal to employ them. Some of the teachers had traveled to the capital from other cities to make their voices heard.
Despite the shortage of teachers across Iran, the Education Ministry refrains from employing any new teachers.
The teachers’ minimum wage in Iran is 35 million rials, which means that they are paid about 1,300 euros a year. In Ireland, the minimum annual salary of a teacher is 30,000 euros, more than 23 times their Iranian colleagues. All the while, Irish teachers are among the lowest paid in Europe.
In Luxembourg, a teacher earns at least 95,000 euros. That means more than 73 times the salary of a teacher in Iran! To add insult to injury, Iranian teachers receive their salary with a delay. Some informal teachers are only receiving half their salaries. The authorities’ answer to the teachers’ protests is negligence and then oppression.
September 21 – Khuzestan province, southwest #Iran
Teachers rallied outside the Education Dept. demanding higher wages and expressing economic woes. Their wages push them under the poverty line, they say. #IranProtests#اعتراضات_سراسری pic.twitter.com/00h2lM1OYY— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) September 21, 2021
As student have taken to the streets in the past two months across Iran, it is also believed that the country will witness teacher hold protests with the start of the new school year.
Teachers have been protesting since last year, but the regime has refrained from addressing their demands. As the start of the academic year nears, Iranian teachers are in the streets yet again to resume their protests and remind the government of its duties.
